This paper proposes measures to quantify the effective level and the effective progressivity of taxation in a fiscally decentralized country taking income sorting into account. Using data on the universe of Swiss taxpayers, we find that rich households effectively face significantly lower...

We study the incidence and the optimal design of nonlinear income taxes in a Mirrleesian economy with a continuum of endogenous wages. We characterize analytically the incidence of any tax reform by showing that one can mathematically formalize this problem as an integral equation. For a CES...

We evaluate the effectiveness of a more progressive tax scheme in raising government revenues. We develop a life-cycle economy with heterogeneity and endogenous labor supply. Households face a progressive income tax schedule, mimicking the Federal Income tax, and flat-rate taxes that capture...

In Germany the car tax is derived from the cylinder capacity. Since 2009 the amount of carbon emissions serves as an additional criterion. Taking recent developments into account, cylinder capacity can no longer be justifi ed as a reasonable tax basis. Instead I propose a progressive tax based...

How much additional tax revenue can the government generate by increasing labor income taxes? In this paper we provide a quantitative answer to this question, and study the importance of the progressivity of the tax schedule for the ability of the government to generate tax revenues. We develop...

Why might governments tax the rich? -- Treating citizens as equals -- The income tax over two centuries -- Taxing inheritance -- Taxes on the rich in context -- The conscription of wealth -- The role of war technology -- Why taxes on the rich declined -- What future for taxing the rich?

At Easter representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and of the German Protestant Church argued for more redistribution. The main tool for redistribution in the German tax system is the progressive income tax. The most important source of funding for the church, the church tax, is directly...

This paper provides a novel analysis of quantitative easing (QE) that focuses on its implicit fiscal dimension. The first segment examines the theory of the liquidity trap and introduces a distinction between a "weak" and "strong" liquidity trap. The second segment analyzes the impact of QE...